Here we are finally at the end of 2016 - and what a tumultuous year it has been! I don't need to tell anyone how the world events have been rocky and ever changing, feeling more like a scripted show during sweeps than the more consistent and predictable years that preceded it. Lots of celebrity deaths too - famous people die every year, but somehow those who passed on felt even more meaningful than others. Or perhaps with the crazy see-saw of a year, we just tried to hold onto stability, and the death of those we love and idolize hurt so much more. Many would like to dismiss the whole year, saying nothing worthwhile came of it and to never speak of 2016 again. I'm not someone who can say that. This was the year my daughter was born, and I wouldn't trade that for any change to the year. In addition, on a more professional level, I put out some good work during 2016.

First in February was the second Dane Monday book, BURNING MONDAY. How do you follow up a quasi-ridiculous story with a manic investigator, robots, some magic, a megalomaniac, and two giant creatures fighting in a city? I don't have a definitive answer to that, but I did it with an occult Chinese fire cult, quasi-Daoist mysticism, some werewolf bikers, a giant serpent, and some mystic kungfu. Did it work? That's for better men and women than I to decide.

Next in May was the second New Avalon Case Files novel, THE CASE OF THE GHOSTLY RUNNERS AND THE TALL MAN. This mouthful of a novel title was the continuation of the mystery gang's encounters with the strange war of light versus darkness. It also turns into a haunted house novel in the last third, as if that is ever a bad thing. Interested readers will notice it has a tie in to MANIC MONDAY, but it is not essential; Dane Monday readers will not feel lost if they don't read this novel, Case Files readers don't need to have read Manic Monday.

In August came the third Nowak Brothers novel, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MONSTER HUNTER. Szandor resumes the narrating reigns as he details getting his life back together after the events of JABBERWOCK JACK. Of course, this doesn't work out so well as people's heads keep exploding, not to mention encounters with insectoid monsters, murderous revenants, and exploding trucks. And those sometimes feel less dangerous than his own failing relationship. However, rest assured, there's the same amount of cursing and Szandor hitting things with a lead pipe - these are franchise staples, after all.

December brought us the surprise of the year - and I mean I was surprised too, albeit earlier in the year than you. I hadn't intended to write a sequel to THE LOST AND THE DAMNED this year. Oh, I had notes and a partial draft, but I didn't think I'd be getting back to writing it anytime soon. But sometimes inspiration has a mind of its own, and I found myself pushing back the next Dane Monday novel to write PAPER MOON. The further adventures of John Keats, this novel has him back in Austin, searching for a missing person connected to a PBS studio puppet show. That itself is a path to dark things, but John's life is further complicated by the blackness that spoke to him in the bowels of Bellingham during The Lost and the Damned. And then of course there's an apocalyptic prophecy concerning him, which is just never good and a source of even more trouble.

What's 2017 going to bring? In general, I hope it brings a more stable year, maybe one where things aren't so chaotic and things going right for people. What can you expect from me? I've already announced the third Dane Monday book, MURDER MONDAY. Expect to see that possibly in March. There will be another Nowak brothers novel in 2017. You can bet on that. Beyond those, who knows what else? Perhaps I'll even be surprised at what else the year brings.

I want to say thank you to all of you who have read my books this year. I'm going to keep putting out the novels I have in me and I hope you enjoy reading them. I wish you all the best in 2017 from my family to yours!​Dennis LiggioDec 31st, 2016

In his ancestral home, a man puts his family's affairs in order, alone except for the ticking of a clock. But he soon finds that he is not alone as he is visited by a succession of ghosts. As he descends into fear, the hour gets ever closer to the arrival of the last ghost...

Private detective John Keats has another missing person case. Despite the horrors found in Bellingham hospital, the two years since THE LOST AND THE DAMNED have been normal barring nightmares. But the dark parts of this world are not done with him yet. Once again he makes a change from cheating spouses cases to do more traditional detective work, this time searching for the creator of a PBS children's show. The pilot of the show is almost finished, but the creator just disappeared without a single word to anyone. The studio thinks he quit from stress, but not all agree. Despite his work, paranoia and puppets are all John finds in the studio. But his investigation is not over. There's plenty of time for something black and horrible to reach across reality to call his name once more...

There is a darkness waking up in the Bellingham mental hospital. Around this evil, the building is twisting and distorting, becoming a place of monsters and murders. With each death, the darkness grows stronger. Doors are opening to other times and other places, reality is shifting.Into this comes John Keats, a private detective more accustomed to catching infidelity than missing persons. In pursuit of a half a million dollar bounty, he has tracked down missing rock star Katie Vanders to Bellingham, but he has no idea what waits inside. It should have been easy money: go in, get the girl, and leave. But now that he is in the hospital, he has no way out. The exits are blocked, the hospital is falling apart, and something is chasing him. Even after finding Katie, there is no escape from this trap. His rescue mission has become a game of survival as the hospital twists apart across time and space.As deadly secrets are uncovered, a malevolent intelligence is awakening. Can John and Katie figure out how to stop it and escape the hospital, or will they find themselves forever lost in darkness?

Ever buy a house and find out there was something wrong with it, something you felt someone should have told you about? What if instead of a foundation issue or bad wiring, it was a gateway to another dimension? Find out how someone else deal with it in this humorous short story, free this weekend!

Home ownership is the fulfillment of a dream for many: a place of their own, a plot of land to live out their lives as masters of their own destiny. We all know that a new house come with a variety of new challenges; we know there's more to it than just our dreams. But there's one problem no homeowner expects: finding an interdimensional portal in their backyard. What does that mean for their future? How do they even deal with a portal? And what's with all these heroes that seem to be drawn to it? One very unlucky new homeowner is about to find out...